Page 20 of Summer at the Château
‘I have another question – your surname, Martin, is that a married name?’
‘No, my family name. I’m not married. Please – I have to go.’ Justine slammed the cottage door behind her and ran to her car. Thirty seconds later, she was driving away.
Pixie stood on the driveway watching her go and despite everything, found herself hoping that she was okay to drive in her upset state. At least she’d managed to tell the woman the truth about Frank without breaking down herself, but she still had questions she needed answers to. Pixie sighed and walked slowly across to the château. Justine and her child were not her problem, but how could she evict a single mother with a small child?
Her rehearsed speech of, ‘I now own the château and the cottage, both of which I intend to sell later this year. So, I am giving you notice to quit and I’d like you to leave immediately,’ had died on her lips before she’d even attempted to speak the words. A second, uneasy question slipped unwanted into Pixie’s mind. Could the child be Frank’s? And if he was – what the hell was she going to do about it? Ignore or acknowledge?
15
Before she reached the village, Justine pulled over and rooted in her bag for a comb. When she pulled down the small mirror in the visor and saw the state of her face, let alone her hair, she groaned and searched hurriedly for some concealer to try and hide the redness around her eyes in case she saw anyone. Sitting there, she took several calming deep breaths before she drove the rest of the way to the school.
Ferdie was waving a picture he’d painted as he came out into the school playground. ‘Look, Mummy, it’s Gangan’s dog. Can we have a dog?
‘You’ve painted him beautifully, we’ll pin it on the board in the kitchen when we get home,’ Justine said, ignoring his question. She scooped him up and lifted him into the car quickly. Getting a dog had moved even further down a long list of wants at the moment.
She handed Ferdie one of the flapjack biscuits that she always carried in her bag, knowing that he needed something to eat the moment he came out of school, otherwise he became cranky quickly. And today she couldn’t cope with cranky.
Not wanting to go home straight away, she took the road that led down to the river, about three kilometres away. There was a small playground with swings and a trampoline and Ferdie loved it there. While he amused himself, she’d use the time to think about the future.
To her relief, the playground was deserted when they arrived and Ferdie ran off to jump around on the trampoline. Sitting on a nearby log bench to watch him, Justine let her thoughts wander back to the scene in the cottage.
Pixie had said she had something to say other than telling her the sad news about Frank but had never got that far. Justine sighed. She didn’t need a crystal ball to guess that Pixie intended to give her notice to quit the cottage. When Frank had promised the cottage was hers and Ferdie’s to live in for as long as she wanted, she’d taken a lot of convincing that he meant it. She remembered throwing her arms around him in the end and thanking him profusely.
Shame he’d never got around to telling Pixie about their arrangement. All those months when he kept saying he knew how hurt she would be and once he’d sorted a few things out, he’d know when it was the right moment to tell her. Justine smiled wryly to herself. The right moment had never arrived and now it was too late. Pixie Sampson must surely be wondering about who she, Justine, was, and why Frank had let her live in the château cottage. Doubtless there would be a lot of questions next time they came face to face.
Justine let out a deep sigh. She’d promised Frank that she would leave it to him to tell his wife the truth, saying it was his secret to tell, not hers, but she knew if the truth ever became known it wasn’t only Pixie Sampson who would be hurt.
What were she and Ferdie going to do now? The first option to come to mind, just leave, disappear out of Pixie’s life, she pushed away. If only it were that simple. There was so much to take into consideration. Did she stay here in Finistère or move completely away? Back nearer her parents? Finding somewhere else to live that she could afford wouldn’t be easy, finding storage for her basket-making stuff would be another problem. But uprooting Ferdie from both his home and school at the same time would be so hard on him, especially when she’d tried to give him some stability in his young life.
Justine smiled as she saw him bouncing on the trampoline, arms flailing and shouting with glee.
‘Mummy, you bounce too!’ Ferdie shouted as he saw her watching.
Justine shook her head.
‘Pleeeze.’
Oh what the hell, there was no one here to criticise.
Justine kicked off her shoes and joined Ferdie on the trampoline. For five minutes, she jumped and bounced all her worries out of her head, concentrating on playing with her son, staying in the middle and avoiding the safety net around the edges of the trampoline.
‘This is fun, but we have to go home soon,’ she said, as Ferdie landed on his bottom next to her as she took a quick breather.
‘No no, want to stay,’ and Ferdie was up and jumping again.
‘Okay, two minutes, but that’s it. When I call you, you come. I’m getting off now.’
Justine’s legs felt like jelly as she climbed back onto the ground and she wobbled as she walked towards the car. Leaning against it waiting for her legs to stop trembling, she began to worry about what was likely to happen now. If Pixie did plan on telling her to leave, and that surely had to be a high possibility, she’d need a plan.
Would Pixie agree to her staying in the cottage if she offered to pay rent? Frank had always insisted he didn’t want her to worry about paying rent, but as her business had started to take off, she’d religiously put some money away every month. Not a lot but enough to give her a cushion, and now her baskets were selling well, paying rent wouldn’t be a problem. Offering to pay rent had to be worth a try. If her offer was refused, which was, of course, a distinct possibility, then she’d have to ask for time and think of a plan B.
In the meantime, she and Ferdie would stay out of sight back at the château as much as they could in an effort to put off the next meeting with Pixie for as long as possible. To think that less than twenty-four hours ago she’d thought she had her life mapped out for the summer – and the foreseeable future.
‘Come on, Ferdie. Time to go home.’ The words, ‘while we still have one’ remained unspoken.
* * *
When Pixie returned to the château after Justine had driven off, she found Gwen sitting out on the terrace. Lunch things were still on the table, although Gwen had eaten something and poured herself a glass of rosé. Gwen took the bottle out of the wine cooler and poured Pixie a generous measure before pouring herself a smaller one.
